Today i am on day 204!! I have lost 32 lbs and I feel amazing! So far I am down almost 70 lbs from my all time high. I have lost EVERY single pound in OA 90 day plan. However, I did have a break in my abstinence, hence re-gaining over 30 lbs, so really I have lost 100 lbs cuz I had to re-lose the 30 lbs twice. It has only taken me 9 months, then 6 months. I feel very free on this plan. While the physical recovery (weight loss) is AMAZING, the mental clarity is something that is even more amazing. Once I got on the other side of the detox, about 2 weeks, I started to feel more and more amazing. The promises really are coming true for me today. The self loathing is GONE, the self pity, GONE, depression, GONE, fear almost all gone. the list goes on and on. I would recommend this way of life to anyone who is struggling. I have almost NO hunger between meals.

Heres what I know about OA history. Way before 1970 when I first went to meeting, OA had a food plan called the grey sheet. It was very restrictive and didn't meet everyones health needs. As time went by, suggeted foods plans were introduced in a pamplet. Abstinence was defind as "refraining from compulsive eating" and no plan endorsed. Later on a new faction in OA emerged calling their meetings OA HOW, and returned to a the grey sheet as a means to abstinence. If you were not doing the grey sheet, you were not abstinence unless a doctor told you not to use that plan. I personally, found it humiliating to be told I was a failure if I didn't choose that plan. And, at that time, you weren't allowed to speak at meetings if you weren't abstinant.

I am not familiar with the OA 90.

Anyway, I finally designed a plan that was healthy and worked for me and I lose weight. I personally find that 5 smaller meals makes me feel less crazy than 3 larger meals a day. I don't feel crazy most of the time.

My advice, get a healthy plan from your doctor.

__________________About me: I am 62 years young. I started my weight loss journey in January 2011 at my top weight of 350. I made a decision at that time not to diet, but to make a lifestyle change.

Well, I am happy to say I just celebrated 8 months of back to back abstinence. I have released 35 lbs, and 75 total since finding OA 3 yrs ago! I love my food plan. I did get it from the dignity of choice pamphlet endorsed by OA. Many people do not even know this publication exisits.

Hi all. I would like to claim my seat here. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I had not heard of some of these plans and not the 90 day plan. I am going to google the gray sheet. I do know OA does not tell you how or what to eat and for that I am thankful. I need more structure tho. I need to develop a food plan that works for me. I have a lapband and cannot do well with 3 large meals a day. I too need 4 or 5 mini meals. Portion control is my biggest problem. And I love to graze. I am having some health issues and am forced to wake up and get serious about my binging and COE and what that is doing to my body. I have a goal to develop a food plan by the end of the weekend. I suspect it is one where I need to give up white stuff (sugar, flour, potatoes)..all trigger foods for me. Thanks for this thread. I am going to try a phone meeting soon. Do you all find that helpful? I haven't done them before. I've done some online meetings and was going to a F2F meeting, but had a conflict with my f2f sponsor and quit going. The meetings did help tho. Maybe at some point I can find my way back. Thanks to everyone here for sharing their ESH.

Hello everyone! I am just 3 days away from having 9 months of back to back abstinence. I am so excited to have made it through Thanksgiving abstinent and not having any cravings whatsoever. However I did experiment with spenda in my cranberries and I will in all honesty say that that was a disaster! It made me mean and cranky for 3 days. Okay, so I used it Thursday and Friday. I was a bear Thursday, Friday and Saturday, most likely it was still in my system yesterday. Today I feel 100% better as it is out of my system now! I was so tempted to go back on antidepressants but now that I know what is up, I am soooo happy I didn't and happy I did not eat over it! Thanks for letting me share!

Hi Sheila, thank you so much for this thread and for the inspiration! I already don't eat sugar or flour and I'm not in OA (I don't think my country has any meetings), but regardless you're such an inspiration. The idea of 90 days of abstinence feels like something I really want to give my best try, starting today. They say 21 days is enough to change a habit, but honestly with something like disordered eating, I don't think that's enough. 90 days however is so long that it might make a permanent change. I can't even imagine how amazing achieving something like that is going to feel! I've felt like going to the store to buy stuff to eat all day but thanks to you being so inspiring, I'm staying strong

Heres what I know about OA history. Way before 1970 when I first went to meeting, OA had a food plan called the grey sheet. It was very restrictive and didn't meet everyones health needs. As time went by, suggeted foods plans were introduced in a pamplet. Abstinence was defind as "refraining from compulsive eating" and no plan endorsed. Later on a new faction in OA emerged calling their meetings OA HOW, and returned to a the grey sheet as a means to abstinence. If you were not doing the grey sheet, you were not abstinence unless a doctor told you not to use that plan. I personally, found it humiliating to be told I was a failure if I didn't choose that plan. And, at that time, you weren't allowed to speak at meetings if you weren't abstinant.

I am not familiar with the OA 90.

Anyway, I finally designed a plan that was healthy and worked for me and I lose weight. I personally find that 5 smaller meals makes me feel less crazy than 3 larger meals a day. I don't feel crazy most of the time.

My advice, get a healthy plan from your doctor.

The GreySheet is ridiculously restrictive but it works for me. I'm not familiar with any of the other food plans and I think it's good that OA and GreySheet broke apart. No one should feel like a failure because a certain plan doesn't work for them. I wish that there were GreySheet meetings where I live and I have seriously considered going to an OA meeting. Maybe that's what I should do.

If anyone is interested I got my food plan from fulloffaith.com Pam has a free ebook you can download and the suggestions are at the end of the book. I also got my sponsor from one of the 90day OA meetings. Sponsors are essential so it does not become just another diet plan.

Thanks so much for sharing. I have always kind of wondered what no white flour meant (though it seems simple and I've seen it a million times). I haven't figured out an abstinence plan for myself yet, but I think this will help me!